Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside. In a small bowl, place the flour, cocoa powder and salt, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl aside.

Whip the egg whites.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), place the 6 egg whites.

Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes).

Once soft peaks form, and with the mixer on low speed, add the confectioners’ sugar slowly until it is incorporated into the egg whites.

Turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed, and whip until stiff and glossy peaks form (about 4 minutes). Stop before the egg whites become dry, or they will be difficult to fold into the batter.

Beat the egg yolks.While the egg whites are beginning to whip, in a large bowl, place the 5 egg yolks and the granulated sugar, and whisk until the mixture turns from dark yellow and thin to pale yellow and thicker (about 3 minutes, by hand).

Combine into a batter.Once the egg whites are ready, begin to combine all of the ingredients in the following manner: To the large bowl with the egg yolk mixture, add 1/3 of the flour and cocoa powder mixture and mix to combine. Add 1/3 of the whipped egg white mixture, and fold in as gently as possible while still combining completely. Repeat alternating the flour mixture with the egg white mixture by thirds until everything is fully incorporated. If you add the dry ingredients all at once, the mixture will be too thick to absorb the egg white mixture and everything will clump.

To thicken the batter enough to make shaping the cookies easier, place the large bowl with the lady finger batter in the freezer for 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the freezer and fill a large piping bag fitted with a 3/4 inch plain piping tip with batter, and pipe “fingers” on the prepared baking sheet about 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, placing fingers about 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once, until the cookies spring back readily when lightly pressed in the center (about 12 minutes).

Remove and place onto cooling racks. Make ahead of time for your trifles as they need to be cooled when you assemble the trifle.

Cherry Trifle

In a medium saucepan, combine the cherries and brandy. Bring to a simmer and cook until the cherries are soft but still hold their shape, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the heavy cream and sugar and mix on low speed to combine.

Increase the speed and whip until firm peaks form.

Place 6 ladyfingers broken into bite sized pieces in the bottom of a 2 1/2-quart bowl.

Top with half the cherries and their juices, 1/4 cup of the almonds, 1/4 cup of the chocolate, and half the cream mixture. Continue to layer with the remaining ingredients.

Refrigerate, covered, for 3 hours or until set. Divide among individual glasses OR you can do individual glasses right at the start, layering and alternating the ingredients.